


Crossing the Threshold of the Mirror

by ShinyHalo115



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron Series - Alexander Freed, Star Wars: TIE Fighter (comic)
Genre: 204th/Shadow Wing, Canon Dialogue, Catadra, Cults, Different POV of Canon, Enemies, Enemies Begrudgingly Working Together, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force dreams, Gen, Imperial Officers (Star Wars), Injury, Missing Scene, Not Canon Compliant, One-Sided Attraction, Oridol Cluster, POV Female Character, Pandem Nai, Permanent Injury, Platonic Attraction, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Starfighters, TIE Fighter (Star Wars), emotional attraction, unseen character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:55:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25055809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyHalo115/pseuds/ShinyHalo115
Summary: Palal Seedia (a.k.a Blink) is troubled by her interest in an enemy pilot, and is not happy with Shadow Wing's former officer Soran Keize.  When an opportunity for revenge comes up, everything falls apart and she becomes a prisoner of a cult.
Relationships: Chass Na Chadic & Palal Seedia, Palal Seedia & Soran Keize, Wyl Lark & Palal Seedia
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	1. Transmission

In the Oridol Cluster the orange gas clouds surrounded the stationary TIE Fighters. 

All this waiting is driving her crazy! At least when doing a mundane patrol there's flying to keep her occupied, unlike lingering in a gas cluster. The Imperial cruiser _Aerie_ and the Rebel--no--the New Republic frigate were racing to finish repairs, so the pilots on both sides had to stay close to their main ships instead of fighting each other like they've had been for weeks. Has anyone else had to sit for hours in a TIE fighter doing nothing? If only she could talk to the rest of her squadron, but unnecessary comm chatter was forbidden. But, Palal Seedia of Shadow Wing was a soldier of the Empire (what was left of it) so she will sit here and protect the cruiser, reminding herself of all the people onboard. To pass the time she took one of her black gloves off and started tapping her nails against the consol. 

"Hello?" an unfamiliar voice said. Palal stopped tapping and sat up straight.

"My name's Wyl. Tell me the waiting's not getting to you, too."

Well this is highly irregular--one of the New Republic fighters was directly communicating with them through the open broadcast frequency.

"We just spent the last hour telling stories, but we know each other pretty well and we could use a fresh voice or two."

Apparently the New Republic doesn't ban unnecessary chatter.

"You missed the singing," he said. "I swear I don't have any plan here--we all know we're going to go back to fighting. But unless your ship's about to start moving, what would it hurt to talk?"

"What the Karabast?!" her squadmate Arron said over the Imperial comm.

What the Karabast indeed. He doesn't sound at all like a terrorist, and what was that about singing?

"You're an idiot, Wyl Lark," another enemy pilot said.

Palal was thinking about Wyl Lark. He had an innocence that was such a contrast to a military setting and the killing and destruction that comes with it. Which pilot was he? She switched on the open frequency. As a precaution she switched to the setting which would disguise her voice, which was reserved for the occasion of telling an enemy to surrender or be destroyed. 

"Wyl Lark?" she said.

"I'm still here."

"A-wing or B-wing?"

"A-wing."

"Identifying markings?"

"I clipped one of you a few days back--scraped up my canopy, almost broke it. Almost lost a cannon in the same fight."

It's the pilot her squadron had nicknamed Bird, because of the way he flew his A-wing.

"I saw," she said, "I've only got one cannon left myself." _Because of you._

He laughed. "It's really good to meet you."

"Even under the circumstances?"

"Especially under the circumstances."

Palal smiled behind her black helmet and shook her head. This was very highly irregular, and at the same time a refreshing relief from the tension.

"So," she said, "you ever hear the myths around the Oridol Cluster?"

"I haven't, tell me everything."

_He actually wants to hear it?_

"The Tangrada-Nii people--that's a culture, not a species--they said Oridol was the face of one of their gods, back in the days when gods were still something to be feared. Before we learned to kill planets on our own."

She continued talking to him, going on about the cluster.

"That's how the Tagra-Tel came to conclude that the Oridol Cluster was alive. Not a god, but a vast, organic _thing_ of dust and gas and energy, with a brain of starlight and crystal limbs. They would have said you and I are inside a life-form, and that all our battles are meaningless next to its vast antiquity."

"It's a beautiful myth," Wyl said.

_Beautiful?_ How could he see beauty in that?

Palal remembered something else--the Tangrada-Nii general Mardroon--he tried to make friends with his enemies and he ended up becoming the enemy. He called it "crossing the threshold of the mirror." Mardroon was killed by his "friends."

There was another saying about monsters disguised as angels. What was she thinking, letting her guard down like this? And she just remembered that her squadron was listening!

"You're going to rot here Wyl Lark. The Oridol god passes judgement on those who enter, and you and your comrades have been tested. You're going to be food in its guts, and if it bothers you to think your enemies don't want to talk, you can believe this is the voice of the Cluster speaking-"

The comm filled with static.

"Good one Seedia," her squad leader Lt. Preartes said. "For a second I was worried you forgot you were an Imperial soldier."

"That was way longer than a second," Arron said. "She was like a college professor giving a lecture and putting everyone to sleep, then switched to melodramatic holodrama actress."

Blood flowed to Palal's face. It was embarrassing that she dropped her professionality in front of everyone, and was troubled that for a while, she did forget she was an Imperial soldier.

The _Aerie_ won the race. Since there was no longer a need to protect it, Shadow Wing moved in for the kill. Palal felt a small respect for the enemy pilots for not abandoning their doomed frigate, because unlike TIEs, they had hyperdrives.

They fought and even though Shadow Wing suffered losses, including her friend Arron, the New Republic frigate lost its shields and the pilots were whittled down until the B-wing nicknamed Devil and the A-wing Bird--Wyl Lark--remained.

Wyl was in Palal's line-of-sight, but unlike with the others, she could not bring herself to fire. She moved past him, firing her single cannon on the enemy frigate, leaving Wyl to be killed by someone else.

"What is Bird doing?" Lt. Preartes said. "He fired on Devil's cannons."

Does Wyl think he'll be given mercy by turning his cloak? Instead the B-wing and the A-wing left, jumping to hyperspace while the frigate burned behind them.

"Bird's a coward," Draige said. 

Palal exhaled a breath she didn't know she was holding. _He got away. Why do I care?_ She didn't find getting away to be cowardice, more like realistic. Hopefully this was the last time she would see either of them again, which meant that the mirror between her and Wyl would be completely smashed. 

There wasn't much left of the New Republic frigate to salvage, the fire burned most of the ship, but there was enough that Palal discovered that before the life-support failed, they sent data files to Wyl. Lt Preartes was focused on the data files, but what stood out to Palal was that there was still a record of Wyl's transponder code. 


	2. Change of Plans

"I couldn't shoot him," she told her friend from Squadron 5, Jeela Brebtin, while they were in the shooting range. "He was right there, but I didn't want to shoot."

They were both in their early twenties, with the same height and build, but unlike Palal's short, dark hair, Jeela had long, blonde hair that she always kept pulled back.

"Talking to the enemy was too personal," she said, "the best thing to do is to forget about it, except as a reminder not to be too personal again, because it will poison your judgement and make you blind to the fact that the person before you is your enemy, until it is too late."

Palal winced. She had forgotten about Jeela's old squadmate Zin Graw, who had turned out to be a traitor. If she ever came across Wyl Lark again, she would _have_ to kill him, otherwise everyone might wonder if _she_ was poisoned.

Shadow Wing's base of operation was now the gas planet Pandem Nai, and after spending so long being the lone squadron in the Oridol Cluster rationing ration bars, the Imperial pocket in the New Republic galaxy was starting to feel like home. When Palal had a day of shore leave, she went to a restaurant on the surface in her grey Imperial uniform and felt adventurous enough to eat a meal with hot peppers and mint, which she blamed for the strange dream she had two nights later of being in a forest with moving stars.

The alarm silenced the chatter in the Mess Hall. New Republic ships have been spotted near Orbital One station. It figures that the break would not last very long.

It felt good to be in her ship again, especially since it finally got the much-needed repairs; including having more than one working cannon.

Outside, her squadron spotted two enemy ships: a Y-wing and an A-wing which initially flew together but were now splitting up.

"Kance, you're with me on the Y-wing, Seedia and Draige, stay on the A-wing," Lt Preartes said.

The A-wing suddenly looped up and over to move towards them. Palal was taken off guard, and fired haphazardly towards the ship, but it dodged out of the way like a bird. She increased her speed, cut the engines, and turned to do a drift to change direction.

It's Wyl! Of course it was--he of all people would want revenge against Shadow Wing.

"It's Bird!" Draige said. 

"A Y-wing fired on the hanger doors," Jeela said into the comm, "our ships are trapped inside."

"Direct order from Colonel Nuress," Major Rassus said moments later, "all supply ships are to move into low orbit, and repairing the hanger doors are a priority."

_They should blast their way out._ Normally she wouldn't hesitate to point out a more efficient way of doing things, but now was not the time to argue with Grandmother again.

Palal remained on Wyl's tail, firing the cannons but unable to hit him.

"Seedia, the Y-wing is behind you!" Draige said.

_Crap! I was too focused on killing Wyl._ The ship fired, but for some reason the aim was bad and she moved out of the way.

She fired at Wyl then immediately her ship was rocked away by a blast. For a split second she thought the Y-wing had finally hit her.

"What happened?" she said.

"A B-wing fired on a containment pod," somebody said.

_That's not good._ The gas around Pandem Nai was flammable, then again Devil was the type to do something reckless like that. A section of Orbital One was burning, but the safety protocols should be kicking in.

"Order from Colonel Nuress: evacuate the compartments around the hangers, and blast the doors open," Rassus said.

_They should've done that sooner._

"The station has been sabotaged! The reactor has detonated!" somebody said.

The two ships they had been pursuing were a distraction! The combined fires of the two events will heat the atmospheric gas enough to cause the other gas containment pods to burst; Orbital One was going to collapse into the planet, and the place where they were away from war will be gone. The red gas clouds of Pandem Nai was going to become a fiery inferno, killing the civilians who lived on the surface. She thought about the ships that were ordered into lower orbit and wondered if they would have time to make it out. The heat was building up inside her TIE, but she continued firing emerald blasts at Wyl.

"We need to kill him," Draige said. "If we're going to die here, let's finish the mission from the Oridol Cluster."

"What about Devil? They're here too."

"We can get them after we kill Bird."

Wyl flew toward a fuel tanker. She fired, hoping to stop him from attacking, but all she did was take out his targeting sensor.

The Rebels could leave the planet right now; the damage had been done. Instead, the guy who reached out to his enemies was going to make sure that more people died even quicker. 

Palal and Draige continued their attack, but Wyl got away from them. Since TIE's don't have shields, the thrusters were overheated, so they couldn't speed up to catch him. When they did, they found him firing on the tanker. He aimed at one of the containment pods, but the aim was off and instead of blowing up, it fell to the surface below.

"We have to stop him!" she said. They fired in unison but at this distance the A-wing was a smaller target, and they missed. 

"There's a U-wing headed in our direction," Draige said.

_Wyl's new backup._

Her ship felt like an oven--she needed to kill Wyl quickly before her weapons system overheated.

"This is Wyl Lark of New Republic squadron 'Alphabet' to all ships on all frequencies. Please cease hostilities and provide immediate assistance."

_What?_

"If we don't--If we don't, everything burns. If we don't, we could lose the planet. Nothing else matters. Nothing else, if we can stop this."

_What?!_ Wasn't the purpose of their mission to cause a planet-wide fire for revenge?

"We need to split up and focus on detaching the fuel containment pods from the tanker," Wyl said.

He was dropping the pods on purpose! He tried to help them even when they were chasing and shooting him. What kind of person does that?

"This is not over at all," Draige said over the Imperial comm frequency.

This was the most irregular thing ever: working together with the enemy. She was roasting alive in her ship, the electrical components were releasing smoke, which somehow found its way inside her flight suit. Tears came down her irritated eyes, and her throat burned, and it didn't help that she was gasping for air. 

"Approaching target," Wyl said. "Counting forty gas pods. Divide them up, same as before."

She pressed the button to respond but she couldn't talk well, and the heat was likely affecting her communication equipment.

A fiery gale blew all the ships into different directions. Were all their efforts doing nothing?

"The B-wing is attacking the carrier," a static-heavy Jeela said. Unlike Wyl, Devil _was_ the type to want revenge.

"It's flying away now," Jeela said. Wyl must've said something to Devil, because the B-wing later appeared within sight of the tanker to help them.

Palal continued to set the pods loose, but at a slower pace than before, especially since the heated gas outside had created storm winds that made flying difficult, and at one point it sounded like the deva pop song that she use to dance to all the time was playing over the comm, which was surely a sign that the heat was affecting her brain. Luckily, she escaped the planet right before all her systems went offline. When the tanker finally arrived in space, all the enemy ships left into hyperspace, except Wyl. His ship lingered as if he was looking at her.

"Go," she said in a raspy voice. _Now that we don't need you, you're not safe._

As if hearing her, he turned his ship to a different direction and disappeared into hyperspace. Moments later Palal finally blacked out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to Eckhartsladder for introducing me to the TIE drift.


	3. From the Ashes

Palal woke up in an overcrowded medbay on the _Aerie._ No doubt every single surviving TIE pilot was here being treated for burns and heat exposure. She was wearing an oxygen mask, and felt pain from her throat and her burnt hands.

"You're awake," Jeela was sitting on a chair next to her, with an arm in a sling and a large bandage covering her cheek. "The medical droid says your vocal cords were damaged, and you're going to need a vocabulator. I hope you weren't planning on a singing career."

Jeela's uninjured arm clasped Palal's. "We had a place for us on Pandem Nai, but the rebels took that away and killed so many of us in the process, including Grandmother and Draige," she said with tears in her eyes. "We'll get through this, because home is not just a place, it's wherever Shadow Wing is."

Palal could only nod and let her own tears fall silently.

"Did you hear the news?" Jeela asked in the hallway.

"What is it?" Palal said, making a conscious effort to speak loudly enough so the vocabulator in her throat sounded like a mechanical human instead of a talking insect. It had been weeks since her injury and she was still adjusting.

"Major Keize is alive."

"What? How?! Where has he been?"

"On a vacation, apparently," someone said as he was walking by.

Palal remembered Major Soran Keize. He reminded her of her father. When she first saw him, he was explaining to everyone about the mission at Nacronis dubbed Operation Cinder, oblivious to the Ensign who had been with Shadow Wing since her first mission at Mek'tradi many months earlier. 

Keize supposedly died at Nacronis, and he was remembered as the most competent senior officer ever. Would more people be alive right now if he was there at Pandem Nai?

"What do you think the New Republic did to Wyl Lark?" Kance asked when he was sitting with Palal in the Mess Hall. "Even though they're calling it a victory, I imagine working together with the enemy, even to stop a situation from going out of control, does not sit well with them. The Empire would accept any number of civilian deaths to take out a large number of enemy forces--I bet General Syndulla is the same way."

"He has definitely either been demoted or expelled. The reason the same thing hasn't happened to us is because of the fact that a large percentage of Shadow Wing was involved. But one person or one squadron? That is a different matter."

"That is true, you had to do hours of janitor duty for talking to him in the Oridol Cluster."

"Don't remind me."

"I hope he's been expelled. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him and Devil to lose all of their comrades like that, and he _still_ helped us at Pandem Nai. If it weren't for him, so much more of us would be dead."

"He was likely thinking about the civilians on the surface."

"Even so, I would still feel guilty about having to kill him."

"Hmm," was all she said, but she absolutely agreed.

What was here that Keize wanted on Jarbanov? The colonists were sympathetic to the New Republic, but this was also a backwater place. What could possibly be here?

"Patrol craft sighted," her new squad leader, Captain Gablerone said. "Enemies incoming."

"As we discussed," Keize answered, "do not engage."

She hated this. Just because her new squadron was being used as a distraction doesn't mean that they couldn't do more than evade colonists.

Up ahead was the perfect way to make the colonists pay for giving supplies the rebels. Palal slowed her TIE to enact her plan, which Keize had shot down during the briefing, despite the fact that he was no longer a Major.

_You don't have to do this._

Wyl's voice was in her head, like a figure in shadows standing behind her. She looked down to confirm her transmission was off. "I don't have to listen to you or to the advice of a man who abandoned Shadow Wing," she said to Wyl, who wasn't there. "I need to do _something_ against the rebels, no matter how small."

Palal lowered her ship and punctured a row of hazard vaults.

"Congratulations, Lt Seedia," Keize said over the comm, "you may have rendered the entire Jarbanov colony radioactive."

She switched her transmission on. "Do you object, _Adviser_?" He was demoted for desertion, but the senior officers still listened to him. 

"I don't, but I suggest you remain in your cockpit until all trace radiation has been scrubbed from your ship."

She had to sit in her cockpit for _hours_ at the Oridol Cluster, and again when it became like an oven at Pandem Nai, while he was off doing whatever. This is nothing.

"I'm comfortable in my flight suit," she said. "Preceding with the extraction." She turned off her transmission with a satisfying click.

Kance must've left his transmission on, because she heard him snickering.

_Are you really okay with causing death and destruction?_

"What do you think a soldier is for, Wyl Lark? How does someone like you last in a military?"

As was expected, Palal was summoned to the conference to account for her actions. On her way there she avoided looking at the Messenger, the floating android with red robes and a black orb as a face which came after the Emperor's death to order Shadow Wing to deliver satellites to kill everyone on Nacronis and shoot down any escaping ships. Not only did the android itself give her unease _(I swear that thing is looking at_ _me!_ ), but so did the fact that crewmembers were treating it as a religious icon, leaving coins and bottlecaps all around it.

She waited outside the door while Keize was likely giving the squad leaders the update on the broken TIEs that were scavenged from Jarbanov. Kance said that when they discovered that all that effort was for ships that looked like they should've been incinerated, you could've heard in pin drop in the hanger bay.

When she went inside, the first item on the agenda was not what she was expecting.

"Your team's penchant for tight maneuvering is using too much fuel," Keize said.

"Tight maneuvering is needed to avoid being killed," she countered.

He continued the conversation for a ridiculously long time before finally getting to the point.

"We had all the distractions we needed. By the time you irradiated the colony, the act itself was unnecessary."

"Setting Pandem Nai on fire seemed unnecessary too, yet the rebels did so without hesitation. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Lieutenant," Gablerone growled.

"The concern is Jarbanov," Keize said, "not Pandem Nai."

Palal kept her face neutral, but inside she was seething. Has everyone here forgotten that Keize was demoted for desertion? He can't feel concern for Pandem Nai because he was never there! The only reason he came back was because he couldn't hide from the New Republic anymore.

If Keize was going to collect junk to salvage, Palal supposed that an abandoned Star Destroyer was more useful than a handful of TIEs.

Squadron Four circled the SD _Edict_ while Keize led the search party inside.

"Keize to Seedia. Can you pinpoint the exact location of the activity you saw in section 14?"

"Negative. Would you like me to make another pass?"

"No need. If we have allies aboard, I have no wish to frighten them. If we have enemies, I will die with few regrets. Should I abruptly cut contact, open fire."

"Understood," she said.

It turns out there were allies on the _Edict._ A crew of mostly cadets. Many felt that the inexperienced cadets would slow them down, but Palal was pleased that for once, their numbers increased instead of decreasing for a change. Some of her resentment towards Keize waned. 


	4. Dreams and Schemes

Up until recently, Palal was among Shadow Wing's newest recruits, joining about a year ago, before the Emperor was assassinated. She met both Yrica Quell and Zin Graw on a mission to attack the rebel base at Mek'tradi, which was her first encounter with A-wings and how fast they were. 

"We're all a part of the 204th," Quell said. "We watch each other's backs."

Graw did not share the same sentiment, because after she was killed in battle a short time later, it was discovered that she was planning on deserting the Empire.

_I am no Zin Graw; just because I don't see Wyl as the enemy doesn't mean I'm going to leave Shadow Wing._

Their mission at Parozha VII was pure piracy that was unheard of for Imperial soldiers. The plan was to blast open the cargo doors so the _Edict_ could use its tractor beam to grab supplies, and at the same time attack the station before they could mount a defense, killing everyone inside. However, a couple of their starfighters did manage to launch and a minor space battle ensued. 

Palal copied Wyl's move of flying up and over to unleash a volley of lasers. The debris from the station combined with the battle created many cracks in the viewport of her TIE, which wasn't an unusual thing in a space battle, but this time it was really bad.

Suddenly the viewport broke and she was sucked out away from the battle and into empty space. Even in her flight suit the air was pushed out of her lungs and the sudden temperature change made her breathe harder.

_Stop shivering and panting, you don't have that much oxygen. I'm not going to have any oxygen if some of the debris comes this way and punctures my suit._

Palal focused on the sight to calm down. Being inside a ship limited the view of space, but now she was completely surrounded by stars.

The Oridol Cluster was when she was last able to have time to look out her viewport and observe the view, and the gas clouds did not seem wondrous at all. If there was any discernable beauty there, only Wyl could see it.

_Is he looking at space right now too?_

She could imagine Wyl, herself, and her friends, especially Kance, drinking together and talking about how relaxing flying was when there wasn't a war to worry about, even though she couldn't see Wyl's face.

Eventually, a single TIE came into her view.

"Lt. Seedia, are you alright?" Jeela's voice said in her helmet.

"I am."

She knew they would come back for her. The Empire had treated all its soldiers as disposable, but Shadow Wing had been through too much to treat its members that way.

The next day Palal was summoned to another conference, no doubt to be chastised again for recklessness, but surprisingly it didn't come up.

"We have an opportunity," Keize said, "a chance to do more than simply restock, rebuild, and survive another month. I'd like to put forth a proposal.

"The Deep Core system of Cereberon has been hard-pressed in recent months. Once an Imperial stronghold, its planets are rapidly falling into rebel hands and we have received a plea for aid."

"I've seen the distress calls," Major Rassus said. "I've never pressed to pursue them; there's little we can do for the Empire's gangrenous limbs. So tell us--what makes this call different?"

"Specifics, and a plan of action," Keize said. 

He tapped the control panel on the table and a holoimage of the Cereberon system appeared, with a halo highlighting the planet Triothe.

"The system's orbital dynamics are--as you can see--extraordinarily complex. Wartime activity caused disruptions in the debris field, which in turn resulted in minor collisions between uninhabited planetoids. I'm quoting the reports now--astrophysics isn't my field, but the _Edict_ 's main computer double-checked the math."

Palal raised her index finger for permission to speak.

"I spent a year in the astronomy department at the Institute for Quantitative Studies at Bothawui." Hopefully Keize won't look into it and see that the reason she was only there for a year was because she was expelled for blowing up her then-boyfriend's land speeder, which was paid for with _her_ money because he said he needed help paying for tuition.

"If we decide to proceed, I'll make sure you have access to the data," Keize said.

Palal was going to look over it with someone from her old squadron who did have an astrophysics degree. Whatever the plan, maybe they'll see something that Keize missed.

"As of the Empire's last reading--and by last, I do mean final--it appeared that a small asteroid would soon traverse the debris field and approach Triothe at high velocity."

He tapped the panel and the holoimage circled an asteroid and highlighted its trajectory to Triothe.

"As a weapon, it would prove ineffective even if we wanted to bombard the world. Triothe's planetary defense shields would be raised well in advance and hold against the impact. However, were a TIE unit hidden on the asteroid itself....it could approach Triothe's orbit before alarms could be sounded or shields could be raised."

He paused.

"General Hera Syndulla's battle group has taken the lead in the New Republic invasion of Cereberon. Her flagship the _Lodestar_ is currently at rest on Triothe."

Palal tensed at the sound of Syndulla's name, and it felt like the room became smaller. Only Nenvez, who was from the _Edict_ , looked puzzled.

"Syndulla led the attack on Pandem Nai," Rassus told him. "I'm sure you know her by reputation."

Palal sat silently while the commanders argued over whether Keize's plan will work or not. She was feeling.....conflicted. This was a chance to end Syndulla once and for all, but there was also a possibility that going through with the plan might kill Wyl, if he was still a part of her fleet. She looked at Keize. _He doesn't know I have Wyl's transponder code, only Draige did. I can send a message to Wyl warning him away from our surprise attack._

As the only non-senior member here, she had a duty to say what most of the other crew felt.

"General Syndulla and her people murdered our comrades," she said, her vocabulator projecting her voice. "Bringing home her head is the honorable thing to do."

Keize looked pleased, but many of the commanders were still undecided, but Palal noticed that this time more of them approved of the plan.

"We all have our reasons for wanting this," Keize said. "I desire only what is right for the 204th and I am willing to lead the mission personally, to take full command, as would be necessary."

Everyone looked at him. Was this an attempt to make a power grab?

"Do you advise us to take on this task?" Rassus asked.

"I do," Keize said. "Will you accept my decision?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning was inspired by The Expanse season 1 poster.


	5. Falling Apart Like a Shattered Mirror

"This may be a trap," her friend, Marali Corla said. She was a dark-skinned middle-age woman whom Palal worked with in the Oridol Cluster when the Nav computer wasn't working. "The rebels could hide on the asteroid and then ambush us after we have landed."

"Can't we just scan for life forms?" Palal said.

"If they're hiding in the caves we won't detect them," she said.

"They would have to come out to attack us, we could keep short-range scanners on."

"The TIEs have to be completely turned off until the last minute, otherwise they'll be detected. I don't think Keize should be doing this."

Later that day Palal was in her room looking at a holoimage of Triothe, which included Syndulla's flagship in orbit and the asteroid getting closer.

If this _was_ a trap, would Wyl tell her if he had the ability to do so? Probably not. He knows less about her than she does about him. There's also the fact that, as far as she knew, _any_ Imperial remnant group could've picked up the distress signal and noticed the asteroid. If it was a trap, there's no guarantee that only Shadow Wing would've notice.

Normally the commanding officer will go over the battle plan with the squadron leaders, and then they will explain it to their squadron in their respective ready rooms, but Keize was talking to everyone all at once in the hanger.

"After talking with Seedia and Corla, I've decided that the plan involving the asteroid is too risky; taking the offense will leave less to uncertainty," Keize said.

"We're going to rewire the _Edict_ so it can be operated by a skeleton crew and attack the enemy flagship over Triothe. Meanwhile the _Aerie_ will head to Catadra to give the appearance that we're going to attack the planet. Syndulla will expect Triothe's planetary defense fleet to deal with the _Edict,_ so she will send her pilots to Catadra. Squadrons Two and Four will wipe them out while the _Aerie_ will turn around and head towards Triothe, where the other squadrons will attack the weakened flagship and the _Aerie_ will pick up the escape pods from the _Edict_ before the Star Destroyer crashes into the planetary shield."

This plan had more moving parts than the original plan, and the more parts something has, the greater the possibility of something going wrong. Still, it was better than sitting passively on an asteroid, and for the sake of the _Edict_ crew she hoped it will all go according to plan.

A few days later, they were doing a flight drill above the icy ring of a nameless moon. 

Palal tried to focus on flying but her mind was elsewhere. Last night she realized there was a problem with her plan; if she sent a message to Wyl warning him away, then he would tell the enemy fleet. A jamming device at the right time would stop that, but only the one on the _Edict_ would be strong enough to cover the entire system.

"Move on your assigned targets, weapons free," Keize said.

_I need to think of something soon._

The next task was to not only redesign the training drones to shoot real missiles, but also create a program which will make them give off a jamming signal and follow engine trails and receive orders by blaster cannon burst pattern. What was the purpose? Before the jammers are activated, they will also give off a signal to make the enemy think they real TIEs, meaning Keize wanted to make the fleet seem bigger than it actually was.

Keize summoned everyone into the hanger again. The last time he did that, he spoke for a long time, and if he was going to bend protocol, she was going to do it too by sitting on a crate.

"Our sources managed to capture someone from New Republic Intelligence," he said. "The squadron known as Vanguard was deployed to the Bormea sector, and another squadron will soon join them. Less squadrons to deal with, but do not underestimate General Syndulla."

Keize gave a brief biography of Syndulla, playing holos of her flying techniques, and emphasized her willingness to do anything against the Empire, including blowing up her childhood home on Ryloth to kill the Imperials inside. She's most famous for defeating _the_ Grand Admiral Thrawn by wide-beaming a frequency that brought space whales to the planet Lothal, wiping out the Imperial ships in orbit. It is rumored that the space whales dragged Thrawn's flagship away with them to be eaten elsewhere, as predators sometimes do.

Both instances gave context to her battle strategy at Pandem Nai.

"General Syndulla is not the only individual combatant we've identified from Pandem Nai. We believe at least two of the ships at the vanguard of the attack were piloted by the rebels who battled the _Aerie_ in the Oridol Cluster.

"The B-wing pilot is unknown, but we've compiled a profile I expect you all to review. He is an able marksman, easily baited into solo flight, and highly capable with his ship. Still....highly capable only goes so far in a B-wing, so long as we keep in mind our advantage.

"More intriguing is the A-wing pilot, a man who introduced himself over an open channel as Wyl Lark and who attempted to undo the catastrophic damage at Pandem Nai--too late to save many, but we can appreciate that his effort was greater than that of his peers. Based on his flying and his accent, I believe that Lark is one of the One Hundred and Twenty--Polynean terrorists, expert pilots all. Study the footage you've been sent."

Trying to save the civilians on Pandem Nai was proof that Wyl was _not_ the terrorist type. 

"Lark referred to his unit as Alphabet," Keize said. "Given its composition we may safely assume it was assembled by Syndulla to counter the 204th at Pandem Nai, though we cannot confirm whether it remains intact. Its pilots are still active-"

_Wyl's still in the New Republic?_

"-And are priority targets due to their knowledge of our operations."

_No!_

"Next we have the squadron identifying as Hail-"

Palal stood up. "Sir? About Wyl Lark?"

"What is it?"

"I was in the Oridol Cluster, I have an idea. I know for a fact that his ship has a jammer, it's likely the way his squadron was able to enter Pandem Nai undetected. If we use the jammer on the _Edict,_ we can hide all of us, not just the drones."

"I will take your idea into consideration," he said.

Palal waited with Lt Bragheer in the _Edict_ 's hanger. They were both in their black flight suits, but Bragheer kept his helmet on, and Palal was holding hers under her arm. Only the two of them were ordered to come here from the _Aerie_ with their TIEs and to prepare for flight.

Why did Keize single them out? She had a bad feeling about this.

"Lt Seedia, is everything set?" Keize said over the handheld comm.

"Yes Colonel." He was 'Adviser' no longer. "Lt Bragheer is with me. The programs have been loaded."

Keize wasted not time when he arrived. "We need _all_ the squadrons attacking the enemy flagship if our plan is to succeed, which means the three of us, plus the drones, will fly towards Catadra. You two will herd the drones into position once the chaos begins."

He paused and looked at both of them.

"It's likely the two of you will not be coming back from this mission."

Palal's mind was reeling. This was a suicide mission! This is _not_ Shadow Wing's way. How dare he do this! Revenge was not suppose to mean a suicide mission!

She nodded her head at Keize, years of Imperial Academy training stopping her from vocally protesting. Being a pilot meant knowing there was a possibility that you wouldn't be coming back from a mission--but it is quite different to have your commanding officer say that he _expects_ you to die for his sake.

In her TIE fighter on her way to Catadra with the stars flowing past, she remembered her plan to message Wyl. One less fighter will increase their odds of survival. Syndulla's flaship is Shadow Wing's target, but Wyl can go back to Triothe and tell his superiors that he did it because he thought the planet was the target.

"I just want both of you to know, its been a privilege to serve with Shadow Wing," Bragheer said.

_It's no privilege to serve under someone who purposely leads you to death._

"With Syndulla's death, we will aid the cause in one day taking back its rightful place," he continued.

Syndulla didn't matter to her anymore. _Stop talking so I can message Wyl!_

"Long live the Empire!" Bragheer said.

"Long live the Empire," Palal and Keize answered. Was it her imagination, or did Keize sound as not-patriotic as she felt?

Palal turned off the channel. There was on last chance to talk to Wyl. No doubt he was alone in his ship flying to Catadra too. She needed to choose her words very carefully in case the enemy somehow intercepted her transmission. _I'll use the distorter again since that's the voice he'll recognize._

Since she was wide-beaming the signal instead of sending it to a particular place, there was a lot of static.

"Wyl Lark?" she said.

"Hello?" _I haven't heard his voice in a long time._

"Wyl Lark. We've met before." _Sort of._ "We spoke in the Oridol Cluster, and again over Pandem Nai. You understand?" _Understand that I am the enemy who taunted you, and maybe even tainted you for doing it? Understand that I want you to live because I am attracted to what little I know of your personality? Because I find it all complicated._

"I understand. What's going on?" he said.

"I don't have much time. You need to head back to Triothe. Do you hear me?"

Static answered her.

"Wyl? Wyl, did you hear me?!"

He didn't hear her. Palal's eyes became wet as grief hit her. They were _both_ going to die. 


	6. The Lost One

Palal woke up groaning and reached out to turn on her transmission. Through her helmet she saw a forest outside her broken viewport. 

"Seedia to Keize. Seedia to Bragheer."

Nothing.

She crawled out of her TIE through the hatch at the top. On the _Aerie_ there would be a portable ladder for her to climb down, but here the solar panels partially buried themselves into the ground, lowering the distance needed to get down. She slid down to the part that attached the ball to the solar panel, and jumped to the ground.

The trees, shrubs, and grass became more vivid when she removed her helmet. Birds chirps up above and there was skittering on the leaves nearby.

There was a toolbox already inside the engine compartment and she got to work trying to fix the ship.

"I'm surprised I'm still alive," she said. It was hard trying to both herd the drones and shoot at X-wings. She didn't see Wyl in the battle, but that probably meant he was killed by Keize or Bragheer.

Palal held her own but Catadra's gravity was stronger than her damaged ship.

"Hello there!"

Two men wearing outfits with checkered swatches walked towards her.

"The Vessel told us we would find a lost one in need of a home."

"You are mistaken, I already have one; I'm Lt Palal Seedia of the Imperial 204th."

"The Force has guided you to us for a reason."

The Force? This must be one of Catadra's cults.

"You just said someone told you to find me," she said.

She quickly punched the first man and did a roundhouse kick on the second man to the chest. The first man was still standing so she punched him again. 

Climbing back into the ship was harder than getting out of it. "Come on engine, work!" On the third try her instruments came to life, and flew in reverse to get it out of the ground and took off when the first man came to.

She may have escaped being a prisoner of a cult, but she could still end up as a prisoner of the New Republic.

If only the viewport wasn't broken, she could fly to Catadra's moon Narthex. She had a vague memory of hearing about an Imperial hideout there.

The ship was still damaged, making the steering more difficult.

This part of Catadra was green mountains dotted with settlements centered around a palace or temple.

Palal fired on communication towers and landing platforms to stop anyone from contacting the New Republic, fearing the years of solitude in a prison, even going so far as shooting a mere solar skiff in case it was leaving for reinforcements.

Suddenly all her instruments went blank, and she screamed as the TIE fell to the ground.

Everything went black.

Pain was all over her body.

"The Force wants her to live," she heard someone say, "we must take our guest to the medical center."

_The cult._

She opened her eyes and saw a decrepit water fountain located in a large room with an open ceiling full of ships.

They took her to a place where she was scanned for internal injuries, then to a room where a medical monitor was attached to her.

Someone pulled her leg, making her scream.

"It's alright," a woman said. "You broke your leg and we need to put a cast on it."

Figures they wouldn't use a bacta tank on a prisoner.

"We'll give you something for the pain," the woman said.

A needle was inserted in Palal's arm, and she felt woozy.

There was someone standing in the corner; a slender man in the orange New Republic uniform with his face in shadow.

"Wyl?" she said in a weak voice.

_The drugs are making me see things. I killed Wyl. I blame Keize for Bragheer, but everything else is my fault. Everyone wanted revenge, but I was the one who made it happen. Will Keize actually tell them about the suicide mission, or will they be left to wonder what happened to us?_

A long time later, Palal managed to move from the cot to the corner of the room, wheeling the monitor with her, and slunked down to the floor.

Does the New Republic also lecture its prisoners about the Force? The last person who did that got a broken nose from having a food plate thrown at her. The cultists called themselves the Children of the Empty Sun, lead by a woman who called herself the Vessel of the Force.

She thought about the Palpatine cultists in Shadow Wing. There was one person in her squadron, Lt Kandende, who was so zealous that he believed Palpatine will one day be resurrected, like a messiah.

If she ever made it back, that Messenger android will be dumped in the airlock and sucked out into space.

_How am I going to find Shadow Wing if I do manage to leave? I miss everybody._

"You're Shadow Wing," she heard someone say.

There was a woman with bronze skin, lime green hair, and multiple tiny horns on her temples at the window which looked out into the hallway.

_I never told the cultists the name of my fleet._

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you," the Theelin woman said.

"New Republic?" _Another prisoner?_

She nodded.

"You want to get off of Catadra as much as I do."

The woman pointed a blaster at her and fired.

Palal screamed, clapping a hand on her upper arm. The place where there was a white Imperial Cog symbol was burning.

"Never try to manipulate me," the New Republic woman said.

_That bitch!_

Palal snarled at her, and she ran away before the medics arrived.

"Who shot your arm?" the woman who treated her earlier asked.

At first she wanted to rat out the New Republic woman, but decided against it.

"I didn't see," she said.

Later that day she was alone again, wanting to curl up inside a heated blanket while being hugged by Jeela.

_How many times have I almost died?_

The next day Palal felt better mentally, but physically was still another matter.

Where did the New Republic woman get a blaster? How did she know about Shadow Wing? She must've been a part of Syndulla's fleet that was sent to Catadra. Even so, how did she know it was Shadow Wing and not another Imperial remnant group?

The cultists gave her metal crutches and allowed her to go outside for exercise, accompanied by medics who were actually guards. Palal noticed that there were barely any animals in the garden, meaning all the flowers and shrubs were decorative instead of native.

That night she dreamed of honeyblossoms of a species she had never seen before--not at her home planet, and not in the cult garden.

The next night she was flying in a cave lit by phosphorescence. 

The New Republic woman was at the laundry pool, scrubbing a shirt as Palal hobbled by with the "medics."

_I wish I was healed enough to do that, my flight suit has a bad smell._

Later that evening, Palal came up with an idea of how to talk to her without the "medics" nearby.

She passed the woman in a corridor and raised a crutch to hit her in the nose, and she lunged at her and they both fell to the floor.

The woman managed to get on top of her, and tried to pound her head against the marble floor.

Palal leaned up close to the woman's ear.

"You know about Shadow Wing?" she hissed, the vocabulator adding static.

"Yeah," she grunted.

"You were at Pandem Nai." _That's how you recognized us._

The "medics" tried to separate them and Palal clamped her teeth on the woman's ear, then released.

"I know where to find a ship," she whisped.

The "medics" pulled them apart and the woman's ear was bleeding.

Palal looked at her and bowed her head. _I've been brought low indeed to be working with an enemy. If only it was Wyl who was here instead of her._


	7. Daughters of the Full Sun

"You should try to get along with Maya. In her childhood she was part of a cult that followed false teachings of the Force," an elderly man named Gruyver said. "You two can set an example of moving past trauma and grudges for the sake of goodness."

_We're going to do that for the sake of escaping._

"If you think me and her are going to hold hands and sing about peace and Life Day, you would be wrong," Palal said.

The next morning Palal snuck out of her room to search the compound for the place where they kept the ships. Eventually she did find the decrepit corridor she remembered, but she could not use the stairs.

Palal hobbled back on her crutches and was discovered by the New Republic woman with a bandage on her nose.

"You're an idiot!" Maya said. "How dare you attack me like that--if you do it again I will shoot your skull hollow! I'm going to cut open your abdomen and slowly take your intestines out, reach in for your spleen, and eat it while you're watching." 

"You'll wait to settle our differences on the outside?" Palal said.

"You said you have a ship?"

"The cultists thought I was unconscious when they brought me here. I was not. I know where they keep their vessels. I can't get there on my own though--not with _these._ "

Maya looked at the crutches. "We climbing somewhere?"

"I need access codes or grade-four explosives. Normally I would steal one or both. Under the circumstances-"

"I get it." There was a pause. "Whose access codes?"

"I'm not certain. I assume even the holy _Vessel of the Force_ needs a code cylinder."

Maya smirked at her joke. "Fine, I'll see what I can do."

Palal replayed the conversation in her head while she went back to her room.

"Have I heard her voice before? That's impossible."

If Palal thought the cult was bad before, it was worse now that they were being more friendly, as if she was going to live with them forever.

"What did you think of the food?" they would say. "Did you see the clothes we left you?" The latter was the biggest temptation of all. Palal cleaned herself and her flight suit with soap and water over the sink in her room while standing on crutches in underwear that was stolen from the place in the garden where the laundry was left to dry. The sink treatment was terrible on the fabric, and without a drying machine the suit was still damp.

The clothes they left in her room was white pants and a long-sleeved white shirt, clearly meant to be a contrast to her black flight suit.

Something Palal did not pass up at all was the menstrual suppressant. In the Oridol Cluster and after fleeing Pandem Nai and going months without having adequate medical and hygiene supplies, every pre-menopausal AFAB had to cut up towels which were washed and reused. It was especially bad for Kance, who had to deal with the unpleasant reminder that he was born with a uterus.

Time went by. 

_I'm starting to think that Maya has given up trying to escape, or at least she's taking too long. Being with a crazy delusional cult must bring childhood nostalgia to her._

Three times a week everyone had to sit in a large room and listen to the fungus-faced cult leader give a sermon via a hologram, then afterward people would confess their sins and become more accepted in the cult.

An idea formed in Palal's head, one that made her grimace just thinking about it.

_I need to gain their trust so I can steal the code cylinder....but the idea of talking about my past to these strangers....these lunatics...._

One day a young girl offered her a wire toy in the shape of a bird.

_Now they're trying to use a child and a reminder of Wyl to mess with my head!_

"I'm not going to allow this cult to twist me like that toy," she whispered to the girl. The vocabulator was acting up and creating a lot of static, but Palal continued. "If my fleet ever comes here, you need to run far away because I will burn this place to the ground."

The girl dropped the toy and ran away crying.

_I need to get out of here, they are getting to me. The first responsibility of a prisoner is to escape._

The next day Palal donned the white outfit and left with the "escorts" to the lecture hall.

"There's no shame in this galaxy except the shame of self-deception." The hologram said. "There's no reason to carry with you the burden of your past, or the burden of dreams for the future. With the Children of the Empty Sun, there is no future.

"Looking to the future, and to the past, is like looking at the sun: it will blind you. That's why we call ourselves the Children of the Empty Sun."

After a few people confessed their sins, Palal got up and moved to the center of the room on a single crutch, past Maya, who was allowing one of the cultist to lean his head on her shoulder.

"I executed a planet," she said, her vocabulator reverberating through the room. "I was part of Operation Cinder and I accept personal responsibility for the cleansing of Nacronis."

Some of the cultists shifted in their seats.

"I don't think of that as the worst thing I've done. Many people would disagree--I assume the New Republic would hang me for it, probably after giving me as humiliating a trial as they could manage--but I was raised to believe in duty and obedience to those who uplifted and privileged me. I can't bring myself to believe that obedience is ever truly wrong. At worst, it's like a solar flare--bad news in the wrong circumstances but not possessed of agency. You don't hang the sun for incinerating a passing freighter."

Expecting someone to die so you can live, what Keize did to her, is the opposite of uplifting.

"That said? I've done many things I _am_ ashamed of. I left my twin sister in charge of the estate when I promised my father on his deathbed that I'd care for it and pass it on to my children." _Which I will likely never have because I can never have a civilian life again._ "I once-" She didn't want to talk about her pettiness at Jarbanov.

"I've made errors on missions that cost lives-" _I should've focused on saving lives at Pandem Nai instead of going after Wyl for revenge._

"And I-" she paused.

"The worst thing I've ever done--the thing I feel most guilty about, that I've done more than once? I didn't tell my friends I loved them when they went on a mission to die.

"Not because I was scared, or-" _because it would have been a goodbye_ "not because I was scared. It was because it seemed undignified, so they died without knowing."

There was only scattered applause.

_I failed, they know I was holding back._

It's up to Maya now, but what if she doesn't want to leave?

An hour later Palal saw her again in the corridor again. "Meet me tonight in the north garden tonight where the big mulch pile is," she whispered to Maya. 


	8. High Tower Surprise

"You need to get away from the mirror if we're going to escape," Palal told Maya.

"I haven't really focused on my reflection ever since you broke my nose."

"I'm not talking about a literal mirror. I'm talking about what the ancient Tangrada-Nii general Mardroon called 'crossing the threshold of the mirror'; the moment when you've seen the face of your foe. When you've gotten so close, learned so much about each other, that whoever moves first is bound to win."

_It looks like the cult is making the first move against you based on how one of them had their head on your shoulder._

"It's a dangerous time," Palal said. "But the gravest peril is to wait too long--to believe you've not yet arrived at the threshold, when you already have. You risk going from understanding the enemy to _becoming_ the enemy."

"The cult? Or us?"

_What does she mean by 'us?'_

"You tell me, I tried to earn their trust today, but you saw the result. They're brainwashed idiots and provincial yokels but they're not entirely stupid."

"At least they don't go around killing planets," Maya snapped.

They looked at each other for a while.

"You're the one with the blaster and working legs," Palal said. "If we don't get the access code soon I suggest we take hostages."

"I can get the access code. Then you die, or I die, and the winner gets the star system."

"I've been through too much to die now, and I have no intention of ever having anything to do with this star system again."

One of Palal's chores was to chop vegetables in the morning to use for that day's meals. While she was doing that she heard the others talk about how Maya "accepted the Force" and confessed her sin. They way they talked about it means it must have been one hell of a confession.

During lunch her and Maya happened to look at each other from across the room, and Palal gave her a swift nod.

When Palal was coming back she saw that girl's wire bird still in the grass next to the pathway.

_Wyl and I never saw each other's faces, never got to know each other, but he was on my mind. If anyone was close to crossing the threshold it was me, but for some reason he was the one that died._

That night Maya knocked on her door. "I got the code cylinder," she said. "Lets go."

Maya kept it to herself as Palal led them to the destination, using a single crutch as a walking stick.

_What if there's only one working ship? I will knock her out if that happens._

Palal took her to the decrepit corridor, and kept a firm grip on the railing as they slowly descended down the stairs.

"You're too slow," Maya said, and she lifted Palal over her shoulder.

"Put me down bitch! You're going to drop me on purpose."

"Not until we get there, plus this way you can see if someone's following us."

They continued going down the stairs then went up another set in a tower which lead to a room full of machines.

"It's a dead end," Maya said. She dropped Palal on the floor then dropped the crutch on top of her.

Palal used a nearby table to get up. "Here," she said, and pointed at the blast door.

"Stay where I can see you," Maya said.

Palal moved to the right of the door so she could use the control panel on the left. They both stepped out into the ex garden.

Most of the stuff in there was ship skeletons and salvaged parts, but there was an intact four-winged jumper and.......a B-wing?!

"Maya?" a man's voice said.

Gruyver appeared from behind a cargo hauler.

_He had a code cylinder too this whole time?!_

His face was struck with the crutch.

"Pay attention!" she said to Maya and herself. "If they set off an alarm we could still fail."

Maya looked at the B-wing, then at her, and moved towards Gruyver, lifting his bleeding head.

_What is she doing?!_ Palal struck her in the head.

_How could you want to stay here?_

Her crutch descended for a second blow but Maya caught it, which lead to a fight.

How could that woman get attached to _them?_

She managed to get away from Maya as the New Republic woman pulled out her blaster.

"They got to you," Palal said. 

Maya screamed and Palal ducked behind what was left of a solar skiff.

"Damn you to the nine hells!" Maya yelled. "Which one were you?!" She fired the blaster with both hands, wildly at anything and everything like a Devil, just like she did in the Oridol Cluster, after she called Wyl Lark the idiot over the general comm. 

Palal moved quickly to the jumper. Maya was screaming and shooting so much that she likely didn't notice the jumper's door opening.

A small ship like this powered up quickly, and while Palal was in the air she thought about using the ship's weapons to kill Maya.

"Screw it, I'm leaving this place and going home," she said.

The ship turned toward the night and flew away. 


	9. Somewhere Out There

Where was Shadow Wing? The first thing to do was to confirm if the plan succeeded by seeing if the _Lodestar_ was still in orbit around Triothe.

To save fuel Palal avoided using the hyperdrive, which means it would take a few hours to get there. During that time she listened to the newsnet for clues, and of course, there was nothing.

She pulled out the wire bird from her pocket. Did Maya stay with the cult? "If not, when I kill her, it will be out of duty instead of revenge," she said.

"What the kriff is going on here?!" 

At Triothe New Republic ships were attacking a beat-up bulk freighter surrounded by TIEs that she recognized as Squadron 2.

"This is Wyl Lark to the opposing force," a familiar voice said over the general comm.

"Wyl! You're alive!"

"Power down your weapons and surrender. Repeat, power down and surrender. All airborne forces should ground themselves immediately. No one else has to die today."

Who _has_ died today? Something had gone horribly wrong with the plan.

Keize answered him by firing on the planet. He probably shook his head at Wyl's sincere attempt at mercy.

'An experienced commander does not pause or shirk,' Keize would say.

"I pity you Wyl Lark," she said. "What is someone like you doing in a military?" A lot of officers on his side must've died if he's able to make a demand like that without someone pulling rank on him.

Palal turned on the comm to a short-range general frequency and aimed it specifically at the freighter.

"This is Seedia to...whoever. What is happening?"

"Lt Seedia?" one of the _Edict_ cadets said. "I don't know where you've been or how you're here, but you better get inside quickly."

Palal descended down the ramp using her crutch to find Keize at the end smiling. Was he in denial about how he treated her?

"What happened Seedia?" he said.

"My TIE crashed into Catadra and I stole a ship from a cult to escape."

"You could have deserted."

"I am loyal to Shadow Wing." _But not to you._

"I'm glad you didn't. I'm sorry to say that Gablerone died at Triothe, making you Squadron Four's leader."

Gablerone was dead?

"There will be a briefing at 0800 about Grand Admiral Sloane's orders," he continued.

What?

"Yes sir."

A while later Palal found Kance and Jeela and they did a group hug.

"I missed you guys, I love you guys," she said. "What happened at Triothe?" 

"A freighter from the _Lodestar_ used a meteor to damage the _Aerie,_ and they didn't have the supplies to fix it, so not only did the _Edict_ and the _Lodestar_ crash into the planet, so did the _Aerie,"_ Jeela said.

"We had to fight our way to a mining facility to get this freighter because it was the only ship on the planet with a hyperdrive and was big enough to hold all the TIEs," Kance said.

_Damn Keize._ "I should've been at Triothe with everyone else," she said. "Actually, he should've stuck to the original plan. If there had been more TIEs at Catadra, somebody would've taken out the enemy freighter before they damaged the _Aerie._ I think four squdrons would have been enough to damage the _Lodestar_ before the final blow when Squadrons Two and Four arrived."

"What's done is done," Jeela said. "The most important thing is that you and Keize are not the only people who came back from the dead."

"Who else did?"

"Yrica Quell," Kance said. "Rumor has it that not only did she defect, she was a part of the New Republic."

"That's worse than what Keize did," Palal said.

"She was in a makeshift brig, but now she's been made a squadron leader after Darita's death." 

"Say what now?"

"Quell will definitely be executed when Grand Admiral Sloane finds out about her," Jeela said.

"Quell has insider knowledge of the New Republic," Kance said. "That's why Keize wants her alive."

_Looks like I'm not the only one keeping a secret from my superior officer._

"But why squadron leader?" Palal said. "She should only be a mere adviser like Keize was."

_Did she ever meet Wyl and Maya?_

Palal mader her way to the bow of the ship, below where the bridge was. The crutch and the white outfit made her stand out among everyone else who was in the grey or olive green Imperial uniform.

She looked out the viewport into the blue glow of hyperspace.

_The hyperdrive was invented after the age of gods, but I think hyperspace is a goddess Wyl, a goddess who ferries her travelers to their home or their death._

_I hope we can avoid the latter the next time we meet._

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this mainly because I like the Wyl & Blink dynamic. Most of the Shadow Fall review videos I have seen by (mostly male) Youtubers did not think that Palal could be Blink, and they all couldn't even remember her name, so I had to do a fan fiction about her. 
> 
> Palal getting her vocal chords damaged at Pandem Nai is headcanon, as is the two-sided Force bond, but I do think that Wyl is Force-sensitive and that's why there was a one-sided Force Bond.


End file.
